Borneo
Borneo (politically divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei) is the third largest island in the world. It has an area of 743,330 km˛ (287,000 mi˛), and is located at the centre of the Malay archipelago and Indonesia. Borneo is considered part of the geographic region of Southeast Asia.
Geography
Borneo is surrounded by the South China Sea to the north and northwest, the Sulu Sea to the northeast, the Celebes Sea and the Makassar Strait to the east, and the Java Sea and Karimata Strait to the south.To the west of Borneo are the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra. To the south is Java. To the east is the island of Sulawesi (Celebes). To the northeast is the Philippines.
Borneo's highest point is Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, with an elevation of 4,095 m above Sea level.
Administration
Borneo is divided politically into:- The Indonesian provinces of East, South, West and Central Kalimantan.
- The Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak.
- The independent sultanate of Brunei in two parts.
History
The whole Borneo was controlled by Brunei Empire during its golden age from the 15th to 17th centuries.Borneo was the main site of the confrontation between Indonesia and Malaysia between 1962 and 1966.
Natural resources
The island historically had extensive Rainforest cover, but the area is shrinking rapidly due to heavy Logging for the needs of the Malaysian Plywood industry and also multinational companies such as Mitsubishi take their share. One half of the annual tropical timber acquisition of the whole world comes from Borneo. Furthermore, palm plantations are rapidly encroaching on the last remnants of primary rainforest. The rainforest was also greatly destroyed due to the forest fires in 1997 to 1998 which were started by man and coincided with an exceptional drought season of El Niņo. During the great fire, hotspots could be seen on satellite images and a Haze was created that affected Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. The remaining Borneo rainforest is the only natural habitat for the endangered Bornean Orangutan. It is also an important refuge for many Endemic forest species, and the Asian Elephant, the Sumatran Rhinoceros and the Clouded Leopard.In order to combat overpopulation in Java, the Indonesian government started a massive migration of poor farmers to Borneo, called transmigrasi to farm the logged areas, albeit with little success as the fertility of the land has been removed with the trees and what soil remains is washed away in tropical downpours.
Indigenous people (e.g. Kayan, Kenyah, Punan Bah and Penan) living on the island have been fighting for decades for their rights to preserve their environment against loggers and transmigrasi settlers.
The type of rainforests found in Borneo include rare Peat-swamp forests and heath forest.